Smart art: Whistler, British Columbia's brand transition to include arts and culture

• Author: Kylie McMullan
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• Date: 01 May 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1656

SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER

Smart art: Whistler, British Columbia's brand transition to

include arts and culture

Kylie McMullan

Department of industrial economics and

management, KTH Royal Institute of

Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence

Kylie McMullan, Department of industrial

economics and management, KTH Royal

Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Email: kathrynm@kth.se

The importance of city and destination branding is well studied. Cities and regions choose to pur-

sue branding efforts for a variety of reasons. Some regions that choose to invest in branding are

looking to reposition their brand to encompass arts and culture in order to stimulate economic

growth. The Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia, has employed this approach in

an effort to grow year‐round tourism and protect itself from a changing climate and business

environment. Leveraging 2 of Hankinson's (2009) destination branding components, partnerships

and communications, to the case study of Whistler, British Columbia, this paper explores its brand

repositioning towards the arts and culture.

1|INTRODUCTION

It is said that “city branding is an old art but a new science”(Brown,

McDonagh, & Shultz, 2013 p. 1254; Houghton & Stevens, 2011, p.

52). This pronouncement underscores how cities have long known

the importance of standing out from their peers in order to attract

and retain resources. Both urban studies researchers and local gov-

ernments around the world understand place branding's benefits

(Kalandides, Kavaratzis, Lucarelli, & Olof Berg, 2011). By projecting

a strong image to both local citizens and potential visitors, regions

hope to drive economic growth. Yet in the world of branded places,

it is hard for many, even those with unique and appealing attributes,

to stand out and attract citizens, tourists, employment opportunities,

and business investment (Virgo & de Chernatony, 2006). As a result,

many municipalities turn to arts and culture to assist them in enhanc-

ing their community's public image. One only needs to conjure up

images of New York, Paris, or Florence to understand how a strong

alignment with arts and culture can romance residents and entice

visitors.

This paper will explore the literature around the phenomenon of

destination branding as well as the role local or regional government's

investment in the arts acts to distinguish their jurisdictions from their

competitors. An illustration of this practice will be demonstrated

through the contemporary example of the ski community of Whistler,

located in British Columbia, Canada. Whistler is leveraging investment

in arts and culture to expand its brand with the hopes of attracting

more tourists and economic development. The case study will look at

Whistler's long‐term plans for arts and culture, the projects the resort

municipality has embarked on in order to execute those plans, and how

it is broadcasting those plans as part of its repositioning efforts. This

paper will also apply parts of Hankinson's (2009) destination city

branding theory to the resort municipality. Whistler is an interesting

example because, although it is already known for its natural beauty

and as a world‐class winter sports resort, it has been implementing a

long‐term strategy to reposition its brand to become better known as

an arts destination in order to enhance its year‐round appeal and guard

against potential disruptions to its core business due to climate change.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a destination might repo-

sition itself towards arts and culture as a way to protect and grow its

tourism economy.

Prior to examining the current literature on city, place, and desti-

nation branding, it is helpful to provide definitions for key terms that

will appear in this paper. First, it is important to make the distinction

that as part of its repositioning efforts Whistler is investing in arts

and culture and then promoting them as a way to reinforce the resort

municipality's connection to them. This is separate from simply pro-

moting the arts altruistically. It is also useful to define arts and culture.

Arts and culture are often bundled together, but are in fact two differ-

ent concepts. Defining the arts is more problematic than it would

seem, as it is a highly subjective concept and has been subjected to

much debate (Suniti Bal, 2012). It also tends to be highly political, as

the answer can affect government policy towards various types of

art and arts funding (Heikkinen, 2008). For the purposes of this paper,

we will define the arts as including various expressions of creativity

from performance arts, visual arts, to applied arts (Gaquin, 2008; The

Role of Arts and Culture in Planning Practice, 2017). The definition

of culture typically includes the arts, in combination with a

community's values, beliefs, and history (Houston, 2007; The Role of

Arts and Culture in Planning Practice, 2017). The terms “arts”and “cul-

ture”are often used together to describe a variety of artistic disciplines

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1656

J Public Affairs. 2018;18:e1656.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1656

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of7